1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a tablet dispenser comprising a drawer, which is adapted to be extracted into engagement with a stop from one end of a tubular protective housing and in its extracted position is adapted to be supplied with a columnlike stack of tablets and is adapted to be pushed into the housing together with the tablet stack, wherein the tablets of the inserted stack are slidably guided in the longitudinal direction of the stack by the drawer and by the protective housing and when the drawer has slidably been inserted each tablet is adapted to be ejected transversely to the longitudinal direction of the stack by means of an ejector, which is mounted on that end portion of the drawer which protrudes from the housing, and each tablet is guided between spaced apart side guides as the tablet is thus ejected by the ejector.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Such tablet dispensers are mainly used to dispense tablets which can be combined in a columnlike stack, i.e., tablets having a substantially cylindrical or prismatic peripheral surface. A main field of application for tablet dispensers are refreshing tablets and lozenges.
In known tablet dispensers of the kind described first hereinbefore the tablet stack is mainly guided in the drawer and the drawer is open only on the side on which the tablets are ejected so that the tablet stack can be inserted from that side when the drawer has been pulled out. A push rod which is longitudinally slidably guided in the drawer and in the housing is supported by a compression spring on the inner end of the drawer and as the empty drawer is extracted the push rod strikes against detent means provided adjacent to the open top end of the tubular protective housing so that said detent means prevent a further pulling out or pushing out of the push rod. The drawer must be extractable at least to the extent of the stack length.
Whether or not the drawer is filled, the compression spring tends to retract the drawer into the protective housing against a stop and thus has a dual function because when the drawer has been pushed in the compression spring will cause the push rod to advance the tablet stack toward the top end by the extent of one tablet height after a tablet has been dispensed.
The known tablet dispenser has various disadvantages. In the first place a stowage space of adequate length is required for the spring within the protective housing. Springs which have a complex shape and are relatively expensive must be provided and the three parts consisting of the protective housing, drawer and spring must be assembled in an exactly predetermined position. That assembling must virtually be effected by hand rather than by an automatic machine. The costs of the springs and of the assembling account for a major part of the manufacturing costs of such tablet dispensers and the dead space required to accommodate the spring also adds to the costs. Most tablet dispensers of that kind are definitely mass-produced. A basic disadvantage is due to the use of a spring, which has a relatively high initial stress when the drawer has been extracted. Manufacturing deviations of the tablet dispenser or damage effected during the use of the dispenser may have the result that the ejecting push rod is no longer satisfactorily retained at the end of the tubular protective housing but jumps out of the housing when the drawer has been extracted so that the push rod and also the spring will then be thrown out of the housing. As the spring is thrown out it may cause injuries and particularly injuries of the eye will be dangerous.